So let's
see, what about this week has been worth writing. Sunday. Sunday was a good
day. The Amit Family was confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints. So cool. There was only three of us participating and
we initially thought that the branch president would be giving all of the
blessings, however, after he finished the first confirmation he moved and told
Elder Atoigue to perform the next one. Then, following this confirmation,
Elder Atoigue told me that it was my turn. Yikes. I had no clue
what to do so I kinda just went for it haha it went great. My very first
confirmation as a missionary. Nbd. For some reason they do all
these ordinances in English so that was lucky. Later on in the meeting Elder
Atoigue and I also had to give talks in church. They went well. I
really like Elder Holland's talk in last conference so I based my talk around
showing our faith and believing. My Tagalog is still very simple but the talk went
well. Whenever I’m worried about sounding fluid or eloquent I remember that
words aren't necessary to feel the spirit. It was a great Sunday.
Here's a
quick update on the Alatiit family. Last week we were discussing church
attendance and trying to convince nanay to continue to come to church. However,
she told us that there is no way that she can continue due to her religious
background. She was telling us that it is completely against her culture to
read, listen to or take part in any way with other religious groups. She
expressed her desire and her belief. She told us that she knew that the
things that we were teaching her were in fact true. She believes the book of
Mormon to be true and has loved learning from us. However, she said that
she can't continue to go to church, nor can she read the book of Mormon on her
own. She will not be able to be baptized. It was really difficult
for elder Atoigue and I to hear such news. We want her family to accept
the gospel so bad but we have to respect her culture and her religion. We
know there was a reason that we found this family. We don't exactly know
why but we know that our visits have made a difference. Who knows, maybe
one day she will be able to accept the gospel, but right now is not the right
time. It's possible that the next opportunity they'll have to receive the
gospel is in the spirit world. My hope is that when they do hear the
message of the gospel again, they will remember the few lessons that we were
able to teach. It will be familiar to them and the feelings that they
experienced will come flooding back and they will know with a surety of
its truthfulness. Yep there it is. Kinda sad. But such is
life.
I'm
going to end this email with a great cultural experience i had the other day.
The same day elder Allouigan and I went on exchanges, Elder Allouigan also made
a very interesting dish for lunch. Chicken Stomach. hahaha Yep, we
ate chicken stomach. Not gonna lie, it was actually way good. A little tough,
but good. Be prepared, I’m gonna cook it for you when I get back. I'm not
gonna tell you either, that way you can't chicken out. (Chicken out hahaha
that's ironic)
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